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Tarpley is jailed in Texas

Former Michigan and Dallas Mavericks star Roy Tarpley has been jailed for violating his probation by playing overseas.

Denton County (Texas) District Attorney Lee Ann Breading said Tarpley, 38, turned himself in to sheriff's deputies Wednesday.

Tarpley was fined and sentenced to two years of probation after pleading guilty to assault in 1998 for dragging his girlfriend from a taxi and throwing her to the ground.

Under his probation, Tarpley was not allowed to leave Texas. He had asked for permission to travel to Europe to continue his professional career after the NBA banned him for substance abuse, but probation officers rejected the request, according to his lawyer, Jay Ethington of Dallas.

He went anyway, playing in Greece, China, Russia and several other countries, Ethington said. Escalating international tension from the U.S. campaign against terror and a possible war with Iraq prompted Tarpley to return to the United States and face justice, Ethington said.